ISIE’2003 - IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, 9-11 Junho de 2003, ISBN: 0-7803-7912-8 p-q Theory Power Components Calculations João L. Afonso, Member, IEEE, M. J. Sepúlveda Freitas, and Júlio S. Martins, Member, IEEE DEI, University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal e-mail: jla@dei.uminho.pt, mjs@dei.uminho.pt, jmartins@dei.uminho.pt Abstract — The “Generalized Theory of the Instantaneous Reactive Power in Three-Phase Circuits", proposed by Akagi et al., and also known as the p-q theory, is an interesting tool to apply to the control of active power filters, or even to analyze three-phase power systems in order to detect problems related to harmonics, reactive power and unbalance. In this paper it will be shown that in three phase electrical systems the instantaneous power waveform presents symmetries of 1/6, 1/3, 1/2 or 1 cycle of the power system fundamental frequency, depending on the system being balanced or not, and having or not even harmonics (interharmonics and subharmonics are not considered in this analysis). These symmetries can be exploited to accelerate the calculations for active filters controllers based on the p-q theory. In the case of the conventional reactive power or zero-sequence compensation, it is shown that the theoretical control system dynamic response delay is zero. Index Terms — p-q Theory, Active Power Filters, Digital Controller, Sliding Window, Power Quality. I. INTRODUCTION In 1983 Akagi et al. [1, 2] proposed a new theory for the control of active filters in three-phase power systems called “Generalized Theory of the Instantaneous Reactive Power in Three-Phase Circuits", also known as “Theory of Instantaneous Real Power and Imaginary Power”, or “Theory of Instantaneous Active Power and Reactive Power”, or “Theory of Instantaneous Power”, or simply as “p-q Theory”. The theory was initially developed for three-phase threewire systems, with a brief mention to systems with neutral wire. Later, Watanabe et al. [3] and Aredes et al. [4] extended it to three-phase four-wire systems (systems with phases a, b, c and neutral wire). Since the p-q theory is based on the time domain, it is valid both for steady-state and transient operation, as well as for generic voltage and current waveforms, allowing the control of the active filters in real-time. Another advantage of this theory is the simplicity of its calculations, since only algebraic operations are required. The only exception is in the separation of some power components in their mean and alternating values. However, as it will be shown in this paper, it is possible to exploit the symmetries of the instantaneous power waveform for each specific power system, achieving a calculation delay that can be as small as 1/6 and never greater than 1 cycle of the power system frequency. It is also shown that calculations for reactive power and zero-sequence compensation do not introduce any delay. Furthermore, it is possible to associate physical meaning to the p-q theory power components, which eases the understanding of the operation of any three-phase power system, balanced or unbalanced, with or without harmonics. II. p-q THEORY POWER COMPONENTS The p-q theory implements a transformation from a stationary reference system in a-b-c coordinates, to a system with coordinates α-β-0. It corresponds to an algebraic transformation, known as Clarke transformation [5], which also produces a stationary reference system, where coordinates α-β are orthogonal to each other, and coordinate 0 corresponds to the zero-sequence component. The zerosequence component calculated here differs from the one obtained by the symmetrical components transformation, or Fortescue transformation [6], by a 3 factor. The voltages and currents in α-β-0 coordinates are calculated as follows: ⎡v0 ⎤ ⎡va ⎤ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢vα ⎥ = T ⋅ ⎢ vb ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢⎣ ⎥ ⎣ vβ ⎦ vc ⎦ ⎡1 2 2 ⎢ where, T = ⋅ ⎢ 1 3 ⎢ 0 ⎣ ⎡ i0 ⎤ ⎡ ia ⎤ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢ iα ⎥ = T ⋅ ⎢ ib ⎥ ⎢ ⎥ ⎢⎣ ⎥ ⎣ iβ ⎦ ic ⎦ 1 2 1 2 ⎤ ⎥ −1 2 −1 2 ⎥ 3 2 − 3 2⎥ ⎦ The p-q theory power components are then calculated from voltages and currents in the α-β-0 coordinates. Each component can be separated in its mean and alternating values (see Fig. 1), which present physical meanings: A. Instantaneous Zero-Sequence Power ( p 0 ) p = v ⋅i = p + ~ p (2) 0 0 0 0 0 p0 − Mean value of the instantaneous zero-sequence power. It corresponds to the energy per time unity that is transferred from the power source to the load through the zero-sequence components of voltage and current. ~ p 0 − Alternating value of the instantaneous zero-sequence power. It means the energy per time unity that is exchanged between the power source and the load through the zero-sequence components of voltage and current. The zero-sequence power exists only in three-phase systems with neutral wire. Moreover, the systems must have (1)